Anyone have some tips on double-tonguing?

[Dan Schultz]

I'm a high-schooler that can't double-tongue to save his life.

Does anyone have any tips they can give me, or perhaps a good website they've found that could help me out?

Help! I'm a 47 year old truck driver that can't double tongue to save his life either!

Hey! I have a tough time keeping just one tongue in the right place!

[Mudman]

Good advice so far.

Some additional tips:

1. Fast airspeed is essential.

Imagine riding in the back of a speedboat. Put your hand in the water. If the boat is going slowly, your hand will kind of plow through the water in a sluggish manner. When the boat speeds up, your hand skims the surface. Fast air lets your tongue skim the air column withought "plowing" and getting sluggish.

2. Whisper Tongue.

You can practice double tonguing away from your horn, all day. Form an embouchure. Blow air through it, starting the sound with some kind of "Toh" syllable to see what it feels like. (hint: by putting your lips very close together you will give yourself some resistance to blow against.)

Blow air while saying the syllables "Doo Goo Doo Goo". Repeat, lather and rinse.

This written description may be a bit unclear. If I could demonstrate, you would be able to multiple tongue after about five minutes, at most. Basically you are articulating on an airstream away from the horn. Your tongue is going to move the same way it does when you play.

3. Extra tip. As painful as it may sound, practice starting some notes on the "K" or "Goo" syllable. Lots of cracked notes may result but it is a good exercise.

4. Refine the eveness of your sound. Practice accenting the "K" or "G" syllable to ultimately produce an even dynamic level. (Usually the "T" sounds louder for beginners.) LV is right that the goal is to make everything the same dynamic. A fast way to achieve this goal is to accent the heck out of the "K" syllables when you are first learning.

Use the following exercise:

T K T K T K T K (all T syllables mp, all K syllables ff)

Good luck and happy double tonguing!

[Stefan Kac]

Two quick tips that helped me tremendously:

1) Whereas other brass players are usually taught to use syllables starting with T and K, tubists will generally be more successful using the "softer" syllables D and G.

2) From Scott Watson: "There are no such things as short, fast notes on tuba/euphonium" (meaning you should err on the long side when playing fast articulated passages).s

[Leland]

3. Extra tip. As painful as it may sound, practice starting some notes on the "K" or "Goo" syllable. Lots of cracked notes may result but it is a good exercise.

Mind if I emphasize that point?

(well, I hope you don't, because I'm going to.. lol)

I used to hear players that, while warming up or practicing, would only play stuff that they already sounded good on.

I'd also hear players that I knew were good, but would try things that wouldn't sound that good at all when they practiced.

Guess which players could do better in concerts and rehearsals?

I had a brass instructor for a while that told about how his fellow college students would hear, from down the hall, a trumpet player that seemed to be gacking everything. They'd come up to that practice room, and would be totally surprised to find him in there -- because he was one of the top players in the school. He was working on the stuff that he couldn't play, since it's not nearly as productive to rehash the stuff that's already good.

The minute you run across something that makes you go, "Ugh, that's hard, it sounds like crap," you immediately know what you need to work on next. If your ka's sound like crap, I'll give you half a guess as to what to spend the next four months (at least) working on.